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22 February 2019

Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.

Five things we learned at ADM Towers this week

Michael Palmer looks back at the week's action on the ADM chart and finds time to do some arithmetic

1
A Killer On The Loose Brandon Flowers released his second solo album, and it
was met with much the same response as you would get from a TV news
story about an escaped killer on the loose: half disapproving
head-shakes and half curious excitement. Consequence of Sound and
Evening Standard both let out their "what is the world coming to"
tuts, while Pitchfork even said that "Flowers gives off charm and
stupidity in the same breath", which I'm pretty sure fits the
narrative I'm swinging at. At the other end of the room, watching
the TV from a whole separate sofa, trying to conceal their
excitement behind scores of 7 or 8 are pretty much every other one
of our sources. The Independent says it has "undeniable charm"
which is definitely something you'd say watching a report about an
escaped killer on TV. Definitely.See all the reviews here

2
We Have A New Number 1
And it's Mbongwana Star everyone! And if you didn't think a debut
album of Congolese rhythms mixed with electronic flair couldn't top
the chart here at ADM, then you've not been here for long. And
that's cool. Welcome. Enjoy. Did you know we have an app now?
Anyway, nothing less than an 8 so far for this Congo-based outfit,
with a couple of 10s thrown in for good measure. The Guardian call
it "a gripping mix of excitement, apprehension and sensory
overload" in their perfect score review. It's 8.3 is beatable by
the right album though, so keep your eyes peeled over the coming
weeks.See all the reviews
here

3
Experience Or Nostalgia?
In the last little while there's been a rush of albums released by
old folk. That sounds harsh, but it shouldn't. Age is just a
number, after all. Paul Weller (56 years old), Roisin Murphy (41),
The Fall (Mark E Smith is 58), Faith No More (original members
average 51.667 years old), Thee Oh Sees (John Dwyer is 40), Jim
O'Rourke (46) and Snoop Dogg (43) all recently released new albums.
But were these releases up to their career-standard, or have they
just become nostalgia acts? Well, who knows really. As any
wrestling fan knows, probably better than fans of anything else out
there, nostalgia is a powerful thing. One thing's for sure though -
all of these albums got a decent, if not good rating. Even Snoop's
6.1 is his highest on ADM record. So you can teach an old Dogg new
tricks. Maybe experience really is worth it's weight in--uh oh,
hold on...

4
Shamir Is 20
Shamir is 20 years old. You're all capable of figuring out what
year he was born in, but don't! Stop yourself. Right now, stop it.
It's not worth it. Let's just push past it. Its 7.5 overall rating
is held back by a few low scores who want a little less
experimentation, or a little more emotional investment. Most
sources, though, seem pretty taken with this kid. Even Pitchfork
like it. Don't believe me? That's weird. Fine. Go get our new ADM
app, hit Just Inn at the bottom, find Shamir, read, weep. That'll
teach you. Anyway, Pretty Much Amazing sums the album up nicely:
"Its highs are high enough that its lows can be forgiven, or
forgotten entirely" which I'm pretty sure sums up what most parents
think of their own 20 year old. Also, Spin reckon it--aaaah I
can't, he was born in 1994! November 1994! He's younger than Pulp
Fiction, Friends, and the Channel Tunnel. PUT TOGETHER! No, not put
together. Sorry. That's not how time works. But still, crazy
eh?See all the reviews
here

5 Mumford & Sons Sink To Lowest Current
Rating
It's 5.5 rating is still their lowest average score yet, but now
it's officially the worst album out there at the moment. According
to our current chart, no album released in the last six weeks has a
lower average rating than Mumford & Sons' 'Wilder Mind'. Now,
it still has some way to go to be our worst ever. In fact, it
absolutely won't be. That honour still belongs to the first JLS
album. It's impossible to imagine how anyone will ever beat their
score of 2.7. No, the latest Mumford effort sits on page 156 of our
All Time Chart's 168 glorious pages. That puts it in the bottom 7%
of reviews. Still, they seem to have made enough money to replace
all their old barn clothes with nice new jackets, so they might not
mind too much.See all the reviews here